


United by Collision

by CyberFlow



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Captivity, Death Sentence, Family, Friendship, Frisk is not mute, Frisk's Pronouns are They/Them, Hurt/Comfort, I swear this is not a murder solving case, Imprisonment, Okay a little but it's not the main focus, not much though, story is mostly told from Frisk's POV, will get a bit darker in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-15 10:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5783056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberFlow/pseuds/CyberFlow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one in the Underground could have imagined that some monsters had escaped imprisonment behind the barrier. But that only meant they had been at the mercy of the humans for years. Now that the barrier is gone, a little ambassador finds themself trying to save a very uncooperative monster that could be the very key to discover just what happened to these outside monsters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dying to meet you

With only nine years of experience in life, poor Frisk couldn't have imagined what an exhausting responsibility it was to be an ambassador to the monsters, so they had accepted without thinking twice. They wouldn't back down, though, now that their new parents had explained the importance of the job to them. They knew the monsters needed them, and they would make sure that everything they had worked for would stay safe.

The reintroduction of the monsters to the surface had been slow and filled with distrust, but in the end they were given the benefit of the doubt. The weeks after the day the barrier fell had drained Frisk's energy to no end. Between meetings to discuss whether a child could be the ambassador of the monsters or not, extensive questioning sessions where Frisk refused to talk about their life prior to their fall in Mt. Ebott, Asgore and Toriel's struggle to adopt them legally and all the trips in between these meetings, Frisk had found themself permanently tired. It had been months before they could finally go through a day without requiring a nap every few hours. Papyrus used to tell them they were sleeping almost as much as Sans.

In spite of all of this, Frisk's life was beginning to settle into a manageable routine. The important grown-up meetings were still a thing, but at least they knew they would be returning to their new home at the end of the day. The monsters had built their own town at an incredibly fast pace in a forest some miles away from Mt. Ebott. There, Toriel and Frisk had a little house of their own. It was close to the houses of all their new friends and the little human couldn't be happier than they were by living among monsters. The new town's name, "Dawn", was elected by popular opinion, mainly because the monsters where mesmerized by the sight of the sun rising.

Frisk however, found it more appealing to just sleep through that moment of the day, which is why when Toriel came into their room to wake them up at 5: 30 A.M. the only response they could think of was burying themself deeper into the covers.

"My child," she called gently, "it's time to get ready. We don't want to be late for today's meeting, do we?"

She placed one of her hands on Frisk's head, which only made them more comfortable and not want to get out of bed. She giggled and urged them to sit up. With a groan, Frisk finally gave in and let themself be guided to the kitchen for breakfast.

Not even halfway through their first toast, there was a knock on the door. Frisk and Toriel looked at each other smiling, knowing full well who was the only person that would visit at such an hour. Toriel hurried to open the door, and two seconds later Papyrus was bouncing his way into the kitchen.

"HUMAN! I CAME TO WISH YOU LUCK FOR TODAY'S MEETING" he said while picking Frisk up for a crushing hug.

"Hi, Papyrus!" greeted Toriel happily. "How are you and your brother today?"

"WE'RE FINE, THANK YOU! AH, YES! I'M ALSO DELIVERING SANS' GOOD LUCK WISH! I COULDN'T GET HIM OUT OF BED TO COME WITH ME, SO I TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO DELIVER IT FOR HIM AS WELL."

Frisk smiled fondly and thanked him, while resisting the urge to laugh at the image of Papyrus not being able to make Sans move an inch from his bed. The skeleton brothers were the ones that spent the most time with Frisk when they were not away for a meeting. It was nice to be with them after a tiring day. Papyrus had more than enough energy when both the kid and Sans didn't want to do anything particularly active. He even had made sure to visit every time Frisk would go out of town to cheer for them.

"MAY I ASK WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE MEETING?" he said after putting Frisk down.

"Ah, well. We are going to discuss the right of the monsters to travel outside the country. As you know, many of our kind must be eager to see what the surface has to offer, but we first have to make the legal arrangements for that to happen. There is nothing to stop us from going wherever we please, but there are absolutely no laws regarding us, which means there is no way to guarantee our safety if we just wander to the outside world." Toriel said.

Frisk knew the explanation was probably a small review for them too. This was one of the most important discussions they would have with human leaders. Some of the monsters were getting impatient, especially a certain attention-seeking robot star. The faster they could ensure safe trips for the monsters, the better.

"AH, YES. THAT SEEMS LIKE A VERY IMPORTANT MATTER TO ATTEND TO. I MYSELF CAN'T WAIT TO GET A NICE CAR AND DRIVE IT AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!" he said with dreamy eyes, "I'LL HAVE TO LOOK FOR THE CREATURE WITH THE BEST VISION TO KNOW HOW MUCH THAT IS, TOO!"

Frisk couldn't help but imagine how much fun it would be if they went on a trip with Papyrus. He would probably get excited about every new thing he discovered. And if he got a big car, all their friends could go as well! Frisk would definitely do their best in this meeting if it meant that they would be able to go on a road trip with Papyrus and the others. With this in mind, Frisk finished their food, and went upstairs to get ready, while Papyrus joined Toriel for breakfast. After a quick shower, they looked for their best clothes. They still didn't understand why adults choose to go in such elegant, uncomfortable dressing to important stuff like interviews and assemblies, but if it helped to convince them that they needed to cooperate with monsters for the sake of peace, then Frisk was willing to use them as much as needed.

They picked a button-up shirt and a pair of dress pants. They put on their polished shoes and stood in front of the mirror. Great! They looked like one of those businessmen that were frequently announced on T.V. This would surely make the adult humans take them seriously! They completed the outfit with a fedora and a suitcase that they stuffed with snacks and important-looking papers. Frisk double checked they hadn't left out any of the documents Toriel had entrusted them with and then headed downstairs.

"WOWIE!" exclaimed Papyrus as soon as he saw Frisk. "YOU LOOK SO IMPORTANT! I'D LEND YOU MY BATTLE BODY SO THAT YOU CAN LOOK AS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD, BUT I GUESS SINCE IT IS TOO BIG FOR YOU. THIS OUTFIT OF YOURS IS IMPORTANT-LOOKING ENOUGH!"

"I agree." said Toriel with a warm smile, "You are going to make a great first impression!"

Frisk smiled back and puffed out their chest with pride.

"Ah, young one." came a deep voice from the front door, "Are you ready to go?"

Frisk turned around to find Asgore standing in the front porch. He had his usual king attire, which he used for most of the meetings since he lacked any other formal clothes. Frisk ran towards him and gave him a big hug.

"Did you pack something to eat? It's going to be a long trip. Four hours at the very least." Asgore pointed to the van waiting for them outside the house.

A van wasn't the most elegant way of arriving to their meetings, but Asgore's size left little choice when it came to transportation.

"Well, let's not waste any more time." said Toriel behind them, "If we want to be able to have some lunch before we see Mr. Whitley, then we better get going."

"GOODBYE, FRISK!" Papyrus said as he exited the house. "WE'LL BE WAITING FOR YOUR RETURN! AND THIS TIME, I WILL CONVINCE THAT LAZYBONES TO COME AND WELCOME YOU BACK WITH ME!" he promised.

Frisk smiled and gave him a thumbs up, which he returned. With a last wave in his direction, they climbed into the van and got comfortable for the long road ahead.

.  
.  
.

The office they were in was quite roomy. It had a large black sofa for Asgore to sit down comfortably and two chairs for Toriel and Frisk placed in front of Mr. Whitley's desk. However, everything was all grey and kind of dull and Frisk was already wishing to get out of there. The man talking in front of them wasn't much more interesting than the room. Mr. Whitley was pretty short, with a round face and a thin frame. He was also strangely symmetrical. Even the gray hairs on one side of his face seemed to match the ones in the other side.

"Well, I guess that would conclude today's matters regarding monster migration." Mr. Whitley began putting away the papers scattered on his desk.

Truth be told, Frisk didn't think conclude was the right word for the outcome of the reunion. Their parents didn't seem too happy either. For what they understood, the whole thing had just served to state all the problems that would arise for the process of giving monsters passports, no solutions in sight. They shook their head. The man had practically ignored Frisk the whole time, talking as fast and complicated as possible. Frisk even believed he may have done it on purpose. What a jerk.

"We are looking forward to discuss all the possibilities to avoid all complications next time, Mr. Whitley." Asgore stood up. He had used a courtly tone, but it made clear the issue was not over.

"…" Whitley hesitated, a nervous twitch making its way through his hand for a moment. "Of course, Mr. Dreemur. We will keep this in our priority list."

Only Frisk had seen the gesture and it made them roll their eyes. Sure, Asgore was all big and imposing, but that he actually still scared the man a little when all the monsters called him King Fluffybuns… What a scaredy cat. He hadn't even seen how scary Asgore could really be… Frisk quickly reprimanded themself. They shouldn't think about that. They hadn't fought him this time. Thankfully, Toriel pull them out of their thoughts.

"Come on, dear." Toriel told Frisk. "It's time to go."

"Ah, about that Mrs. Dreemur." said Whitley while picking his suitcase, "There is one last matter I must speak to all of you about."

"Oh…" Asgore seemed surprised. Maybe the meeting would end having better results after all? "What is it, then?"

But Mr. Whitley stopped him when he made a move for the couch.

"Follow me, please. This is a… delicate matter."

Toriel and Asgore shared a nervous glance. She nodded to him, grabbed Frisk by the hand and said:

"Lead the way."

Mr. Whitley guided them through many halls, each one looking even emptier than the last one. After a while, they reached a lonely elevator at the end of what seemed to be the last accessible corridor on that floor. Whitley signaled them to go inside, then stepped in and pressed the button for the basement.

"Now, Mr. and Mrs. Dreemur" he started, "I have been told you probably have been around since even before the war between humans and monsters started. Is this information correct?"

Frisk's eyes widened. Was that really true? Just how old were their new parents?

"Well, yes." answered Toriel cautiously, "However, Asgore was not king yet, during that time."

"Then you must know," continued the man, "that monsters used to live scattered around the whole world."

"…That's right" said Asgore, "Mr. Whitley, could you please explain what you are trying to tell us with this."

Frisk grasped Toriel's hand a little tighter. This elevator ride was taking too long. She squeezed back reassuringly.

"Do you think it would have really been possible for humans to seal every single monster behind that barrier?"

The monsters remained silent in thought. Frisk frowned.

"Are you saying… there were monsters up here all this time?" they asked. "How many?"

For what seemed like the first time during the whole meeting, Mr. Whitley looked at Frisk.

"We are not sure about that. There is no way to really know."

"What happened to the ones you found? Where are they?"

Mr. Whitley's silence was more than enough of an answer. Frisk lowered their head and gulped before forcing the words out.

"You killed them." It was not a question. They already knew about the war and how many lives the humans had taken away from the monsters. They felt pressure forming in their chest as they thought of how many monsters must have been terrified of even seeing a human.

When the elevator finally stopped, they all stepped out in a large room. The roof was so far away, that Frisk could imagine petting Lesser Dog in there wouldn't be a problem. There were boxes everywhere and tall shelves covered by thick curtains. All were labeled with strange symbols.

"It was inevitable. Monsters were supposed to be locked away. People got easily scared of them. Most sightings were probably never reported, mainly because hardly anyone would believe in those stories. Those that were actually reported were kept secret and the monsters were hunted down in silence. We couldn't take the risk of letting any remaining one to try to seek revenge for their species." The man wiped at his now sweaty face with a handkerchief.

"You couldn't have known they would do that!" Frisk said indignant. "Monsters are very kind! They were probably just trying to live their lives in peace!"

Mr. Whitley didn't answer, instead opting to guide them further into the basement. Meanwhile, Frisk curiosity grew wide with each new step, but they didn't dare let go of Toriel's hand. Just what was behind those curtains? And what did the boxes contained? Was this a secret place? They hoped it wasn't like the True Lab in the Underground. That was a secret place they didn't want to return to.

Frisk bumped into their mother when she stopped abruptly. Her hand gripped Frisk's so tightly it was beginning to hurt. Confused, they looked ahead to see what had caused her to act like that. They gasped. Asgore had an arm extended protectively in front of them while he carefully watched two armed men standing right at the end of the room.

"What… is this?" Toriel demanded to know, trying to control the trembling of her voice.

Mr. Whitley looked confused at their defensive demeanor and then at the men with the guns. When he realized the cause of the tension, he tried to quickly explain himself.

"Ah, please, no need to be alarmed! They are just here for guarding duty. We couldn't leave it alone down here. If it were to escape…" He lowered his voice for that last bit.

"Escape? What would escape?" Frisk asked.

The huge box covered in sheets that was right behind the men shook a little in response. Immediately the guards turned around and pointed their guns at the box.

"So, Mr. Ambassador," Mr. Whitley looked directly at Frisk "you said all monsters are really kind, didn't you?"

Frisk nodded without hesitation.

"Then let me introduce you to someone that might change that way of thinking."

He nodded to one of the guards. The sheets were removed in one motion to reveal a cage. As soon as the cloth touched the ground, a loud hiss reached their ears. There, a creature Frisk had never seen resided inside the cage.

Their head and upper body kind of resembled that of a human, but the features were sharper. The only parts of their body not covered by thick layers of dark blue feathers were their face, neck, shoulders and upper arms. Long pink feathers grew from their scalp and reached down to their elbows. Both their hands and legs scraped at the floor of the cage with claws any eagle would be proud of. Frisk flinched at the sound.

The family just stared at them wide eyed. The creature glared with golden eyes in return; they hissed again, revealing the sharp teeth inside their mouth. Their feathers bristled and they aggressively extended what seemed to be wings attached to their arms.

"We found it some time ago, before the barrier broke, but we hadn't been able to capture it until recently." Mr. Whitley explained. "We have reasons to believe it has attacked several humans with some… fatal results."

He walked towards the cage and the creature recoiled as far as they could, their growling never ceasing.

"The normal procedure would be to treat it like a wild animal, which means it would be sacrificed for endangering the public with its aggressive behavior. However, there are now laws that enforce the existence of hard evidence for a monster's execution to take place."

"And I guess you aren't telling this to us just because you want to inform us about the situation, am I correct?" said Toriel. She was holding Frisk as far of the cage as she could.

"Well, we have found that it is quite… resilient for a monster. And since anything regarding to the knowledge on monster magic has been long forgotten, we are not sure we'll be able to keep it securely locked. And that's wh- Agh!"

Mr. Whitley was interrupted when a couple of sharp feathers were shot in his direction, one of them grazing his face. A trickle of blood fell down his cheek. Frisk instinctively crouched, but the feathers didn't reach anywhere near them.

"Hey! Stay down!" one of the guards yelled at the creature. They screeched at him, but returned to the opposite end of the cage.

"Oh, goodness! Are you alright, Mr. Whitley?!" Asgore asked. He advanced towards him, but Whitley made a motion with his hand to stop him.

He took a handkerchief from his breast pocket and held it to his face. He made sure to back away a little from the cage before once again facing the Dreemurrs.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about." He stated in a grave tone. "We can't keep it here. We have no way of ensuring it won't use magic to escape and wreak havoc as soon as it's free. You, on the other hand, have an entire town of magic users, where there is probably a good place to keep it."

"You want us to take them with us?" Frisk asked. That didn't seem like a bad idea to them. The monster seemed to be scared. They too would be scared if they were locked and surrounded by armed people. They wondered if they were as dangerous as it seemed. The Almagamates ended being quite friendly, despite their scary appearance. Maybe the humans just hadn't tried hard enough to befriend them.

"I… Mr. Whitley," Asgore began. He remained silent for a moment, trying to organize his thoughts "Well, first of all, it's not like we have a prison or a dungeon to place them in, so how securely we would be able to contain them is questionable. Second, what you are asking of us, is it to just hold them prisoner until you have enough evidence to kill them? Third, well, we too wouldn't want to endanger our own people with an unpredictable criminal, assuming, of course, that is the case." he added with an apologetic look towards the creature.

Mr. Whitley sighed.

"Look, Mr. and Mrs. Dreemurr. I wouldn't be here if I didn't sympathize with you monsters. I really do. I went to great lengths to try and expand the options for this monster. Truth is, how I see it, there are not many chances that it will escape a death sentence, either way. If you don't take it under your custody…"

"What… are the other options?" Toriel asked, looking at the cage with sad eyes.

Mr. Whitley avoided her gaze and took out a note from inside his coat. He read it out loud.

"Should the leaders of Dawn refuse to take custody of the recently captured monster the case of the aforementioned will be treated as all the ones preceding it." He stopped and looked at them. "The death sentence would be fulfilled within the next few days. That is the other option."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are you are asking yourself, yes, the monster uses they/them pronouns. The humans are just so used to everything not-human being an "it" that that's what they automatically call them.
> 
> Also I know Frisk didn't get to do much this chapter, but I think it's reasonable since, in the end, a nine year old is not even supposed to go to meetings. They will have a lot more participation from the next chapter onward.
> 
> WOW! This was WAY longer than I intended it to be. I don't know how long the other chapters will be, but I guess they'll be shorter than this one. So, I'll try to update this fic frequently. I'm going to alternate chapters between this and my other current story, also from Undertale, if you wanna check it out. Please leave a comment and tell me how I did. Constructive criticism is always appreciated! I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> is always appreciated! I hope you enjoyed it!


	2. I do bite

The next day, the new monster arrived at Dawn. Their existence was a secret to the general public, so they were transported in a small truck to avoid drawing attention. It parked in front of Asgore's house, where he had agreed with the other monsters that it would be the best place to keep the newcomer in. He thought it was better this way, since he would be the first in line to foil any attempt to escape. Besides, his house was one of the biggest ones and had a big enough basement to keep the cage and its prisoner. They had spent the rest of the last day and the majority of the current one fortifying the place so that there was no way the new monster could smash their way through the roof or anything of the sort.

Frisk and the monsters involved in the relocation of the new monster were informed that they had been sedated for the process. However, Undyne had still insisted that she and the whole Canine Unit were present when the monster arrived, after being informed of their violent tendencies. Papyrus had also made sure to come, bringing Sans along with him. There had been no need, though, as the monster laid immobile on the floor of their cage. In fact, had it not been for the slow motion of their breathing, Frisk would have thought they were dead.

"Pffft! That's all?" asked Undyne incredulous. "I was expecting a beast or something, not some bird that fell out of their nest!"

"Well," Asgore said "they seemed much more, uh, angry when they were awake…"

Undyne circled the cage, watching the creature carefully.

"They don't even have a lot of muscle. A little less and they'd be just a skeleton with feathers!"

Frisk looked a little closer and, sure enough, without all their feathers bristled and their wings and tail not extended, it was plain how slim they really were.

"EH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT, UNDYNE?" Papyrus asked her with a frown.

"Err, nothing." She said. No one had yet bothered to explain the skeleton that a lot of creatures had bones as part of their structure and it was obvious Undyne didn't wanted to be the one to do it.

"don't think too much about it, bro." Sans said, his grin widening. "after all, if someone told me they saw a feathered skeleton i'd think they are a little cuckoo."

Frisk snorted at that.

"UGHHHH! THE NEW MONSTER IS SO LUCKY THEY WERE NOT AWAKE TO HEAR THAT." Papyrus said after thumping his head against the roof of the cage.

"Let's just take them inside, already. I told Alphys not to come in case it was dangerous, and she's waiting for me to tell her how everything went." Undyne said.

Asgore instructed them to take the monster to the designated room while he and Toriel took care of the paperwork. Toriel had been a bit reluctant to let Frisk receive them with the others, but they had insisted that, as the ambassador, they had to be present for all this official exchanges with the humans. So, they followed Undyne, Papyrus, Dogamy, Dogaressa and Greater Dog into Asgore's house as they carried the cage down to the basement. The width of the doors wasn't a problem since the king's size already required them to be quite wide. They only struggled a little when two people couldn't fit through when standing at each side of the cage. Undyne would probably have been able to do the whole thing by herself, but the dogs had wanted to be of use (and record the new monster's smell), and Papyrus wouldn't let them do all the work without him. Sans limited himself to walk by Frisk's side.

"so, buddy." he said while they walked down the stairs. "s' the guest as cranky as tori says?"

Frisk just shrugged. They didn't know anything about them, so Frisk couldn't really tell how they were going to react when they woke up. However, they thought at how jumpy the monster had acted the whole time Frisk and their parents had been in front of them, so maybe it would be better to be careful around them…

"Uhh, well" Frisk said "Their feathers are kind of sharp…"

Sans nodded. He shrugged, but he kept an eye on the new monster the rest of the way.

Frisk was surprised when Undyne suddenly told the team that they had arrived at the chosen room. Although, knowing Asgore, they probably shouldn't have been. The kid had imagined that because the monster had to be locked away as a criminal, they'd be put in a more jail-like place, but of course, Asgore didn't have anything of the sort. Instead, the room they were in seemed like a totally normal bedroom. It had a bed with fluffy covers and a bunch of pillows that looked like the ones Frisk had been gifted by the king. A tall wooden wardrobe was leaning against the wall, although Frisk wasn't sure why Asgore had put it there. This seemed like one of the monsters that didn't use any clothes. A nice desk adorned with crafting of little trees on it was against the opposite wall. You would think Asgore was renting a room rather than incarcerating someone. Frisk shook their head. The only things that even hinted this was a containment room was the lack of windows, the heavy door made of sturdy metal and the small camera in the corner to the right of the door. Although, you wouldn't know it was a camera if you didn't know that Alphys had designed it that way. It seemed more like a lamp if anything.

"WE SHOULD TAKE THEM OUT OF THERE." Papyrus said "IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE A VERY COMFORTABLE PLACE TO SLEEP!"

He crouched to search for the lock, but he found none. Papyrus frowned when he saw the problem.

"IT WOULD SEEM THE HUMANS HAVE SEALED THIS CAGE WITH BOLTS OF SOME SORT! HOW RIDICULOUS! AND WHY WOULD THEY MAKE THIS BARS SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER?! HOW WOULD THEY GET INSIDE THE CAGE IF THEY NEEDED TO TEND TO THE CAPTURED PERSON?!"

"I think the idea is to prevent them from going outside, Papyrus." Undyne said. She summoned one of her magic spears and walked towards the door of the cage.

"BUT YOU COULD ALWAYS ASK THEM NICELY TO STAY INSIDE." he said with a smile. "THEN NOT ONLY WOULD YOU REDUCE THE MATERIALS NEEDED TO BUILD THE CONTAINMENT INSTRUMENT, BUT YOU COULD ALSO START A NICE CONVERSATION!"

Instead of answering, Undyne focused in using her spear as a crowbar. With a loud cracking sound, the door of the cage was sent flying towards the bed, the bolts also jumping out of their place. The dogs winced, covering their sensible ears, and Frisk stumbled to get out of the way of the flying metal pieces.

"Oh…" Undying looked at the cage a little surprised, then she just started laughing "WHOOPS! Well I really hope they weren't expecting to have the cage back, because now it's kind of useless!"

"WELL, AT LEAST WE CAN NOW GET THEM OUT! AND IF THE HUMANS ASK TO HAVE THE CAGE BACK, THEN THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE ABLE TO INSTRUCT THEM IN HOW TO MAKE BETTER ONES! IT'S A WIN-WIN SITUATION EITHER WAY!"

Papyrus then picked the monster by their arms while Frisk helped by holding their claws, making sure not to step on their tail. They were lighter than Frisk thought, which was a little worrying. Had they been properly fed while they were in the humans care? (God, they were turning into Toriel.) But then again, birds were supposed to have hollow bones and stuff like that to make them fly, right? They hoped that was the case.

"hey, bro. don't you mean it's a wing-wing situation?" Sans leaned back on the wall and waited for the reaction.

Undyne groaned loudly, and the dogs tried to hide their snickering. They had long ago succumbed to Sans sense of humor. Papyrus stared at him with the most unamused look he could manage.

"SANS! IF YOU ONLY CAME DOWN HERE TO-"

But Papyrus didn't get to finish his sentence as the creature he and Frisk were holding winced at his loudness and emitted a low groan.

"THEY ARE WAKING UP!"

Papyrus and Frisk hurried to place them on the bed. It would be bad if the first thing they saw was that a couple of strangers were holding them. Everyone in the room went silent while the new monster started to move more and more.

"You three!" Undyne called to the members of the Canine Unit "Do you have their smell memorized?"

The trio straightened to attention and barked once proudly.

"Good! Now wait outside the room. If the prisoner makes an attempt to escape, do not let them through!"

"Yes, miss Undyne!" they answered in unison before obeying.

Frisk gulped. All of a sudden, they didn't feel too confident being inside the same room that the monster when they were awake. They shoot a nervous glance at Sans, and then at Papyrus, who was the one closest to the bed. He was eagerly awaiting to say hello. Sans took the hint and advanced a little towards him.

"uh, bro? maybe you shouldn't be standing so close to them right now…"

"NONSENSE! WHO'D BE BETTER THAN ME TO BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME THEM TO THEIR NEW HOME?"

The monster had managed to sit down and was rubbing at their eyes. They were grumbling something unintelligible and seemed to be struggling to keep themself straight. Frisk wondered just how strong those sedatives were. However, no matter how dazed they seemed to be, the moment they opened their eyes for good and saw Papyrus, they locked their gaze on him. Or rather, they glared at him. Frisk could feel both Undyne and Sans tensing on the spot.

"HI!" Papyrus started "I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND THESE HERE ARE MY FRIENDS! I'LL INTRODUCE YOU IN A MOMENT! BUT FIRST, YOU MUST BE VERY CONFUSED AS TO WHY YOU ARE HERE! WELL, THAT'S… TH-THAT'S BECAUSE…"

Papyrus hesitated for a moment when he noticed the monster snarling at him. They were now recoiling to the other end of the bed, showing their firmly clenched teeth. It was obvious they were still trying not to wobble, but it would be better not to let their guard down. They didn't seem to want to lose sight of the skeleton in front of them, but they still risked a few glances towards the rest of the people in the room.

Frisk just wanted Papyrus to get out of there as quickly as possible. They weren't sure the new monster was going to just stay there once the effects of the sedatives wore off. Frisk gave a few careful steps towards the bed. The monster immediately turned their head towards the kid and hissed as loudly as they could.

"AH, I SEE!" Papyrus said regaining the attention of the newcomer. "YOU GOT TOO INTIMIDATED BY MY MIGHTY PRESENCE! BUT THERE'S NO NEED TO WORRY, DEAR FRIEND! HERE! LET ME SHOW YOU THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO BE AFRAID OF ME WITH A FRIENDLY HANDSHAKE! THAT'S WHAT SANS ALWAYS DOES!"

"pap, wait-"

But it was too late. Papyrus had already started to extend his arm towards the monster. Their eyes widened in alarm at the sudden movement and, with a screech, they did what Frisk feared they would do: they lunged towards him.

In the blink of an eye, Undyne pulled Papyrus out of the way before the claws of the monster reached him and blocked them with her spear. However, the monster had meant to bite and not only did they sink their teeth in the spear, but also in part of Undyne's hand. She didn't even bat an eye.

"And what do YOU think you're doing?!" she yelled at them.

The monster jumped backwards, almost losing their balance when landing. Disoriented, they shook their head and after a quick look of the room, they darted towards the exit. Sans quickly pulled Frisk, who just happened to be right in front of the door, towards him before the monster had a chance to shove them aside. But the creature was cut short when the dogs blocked the way and started barking furiously. The monster stumbled backwards, shutting their eyes and covering their ears, as if the noise was physically pushing them back. Papyrus took the opportunity to join his brother and Frisk and stood protectively in front of them.

Undyne also took advantage of the moment and grabbed the monster from behind. She made sure to immobilize their arms, but they started clawing viciously at the air with their feet, and she had to back away when a blow missed Frisk's face by just inches.

Frisk was at a loss of what they should do. This wasn't how this was supposed to go at all.

"alright. kiddo, papyrus, time to go." Sans announced. Without taking the lights in his eye sockets away from the struggle, he grabbed Frisk by their arm and started moving towards the door.

"But-"

"come on, kid. tori'll have my head if you get hurt."

"SANS! WE CAN'T LEAVE UNDYNE ALONE!"

"Pfffft! Please!" Undyne scoffed. "Papyrus, you get Frisk and Sans out of here! I'll take care of this!"

She stumbled backwards, but held the monster in a death grip. The creature was trying to bite at her arms to no avail. Frisk gulped, but knew that there was nothing they could do at the moment.

"A-ALL RIGHT, UNDYNE! I'LL SCORT THEM TO SAFETY, BUT I'LL COME BACK TO HELP YOU!" Papyrus said solemnly.

"No need, I got this! Now get out!"

"O-okay! B-but, be careful!" Frisk told her.

"Yeah, yeah."

"And! Try not to hurt them too much!"

"OUT!" she ordered.

Without another word, Papyrus lifted Frisk with one arm and Sans with the other and dashed towards the stairs. The dogs stopped their barking for enough time to let them pass. The last thing Frisk saw of the room before Papyrus carried them up the stairs, was Undyne headbutting the new monster.

.  
.  
.

It had been a good twenty minutes before Undyne finally appeared followed by her canine team. Frisk and Sans had managed to convince Papyrus to stay with them instead of going back down by telling him to put a barrier of bones to block the door to the stairs. That way, if the monster was able to squeeze their way past their friends down there, they wouldn't be able to come into the main house before Undyne caught up.

As soon as they heard her coming up, Papyrus removed the wall of magic bones. Frisk couldn't help to wince when they saw her. Undyne was covered in cuts, some deeper than the others, but she didn't seemed bother by them herself. Just behind her, the Canine Unit members were showering her in praise.

"Undyne! Are you alright?" Frisk asked as they ran towards her.

"Of course I'm alright, punk! What is that supposed to mean?" she said with a big smile. "It's me we are talking about, remember?"

"WELL, IT'S JUST THAT YOU ARE CUT EVERYWHERE!"

""Ha ha! Yeah! Should have brought the armor!"

"yeah. If you squint, it's kiiiinda noticeable. you probably should eat something for that." Sans said from his comfortable position in the couch. "want a hot dog? just 30 g."

Undyne shot him a look, but elected to ignore him to instead command the dogs to inform Asgore of the situation. She added they should wait until all the humans had left. They didn't need any complaints from nosey people that barely understood anything about monters. When they left the house, she headed for Asgore's kitchen. It was common knowledge he loved to treat guests with like half of his own food, so he wouldn't get mad if she grabbed some monster food to refill her HP.

"So what happened?" Frisk asked impatiently. They followed her into the kitchen and had to wait until she finished making herself a sandwich. Apparently she was worn out enough to not attempt to punch the food.

"What happened" she finally said after taking a bite of her sandwich "was a battle of wills!" She pumped her fist in the air.

"A battle of wills?"

"YES! A battle to determine who gives up first! They kept struggling to get free, and I kept holding them in place. They tried everything! Clawing! Biting! Even attacking me with pointy feathers! In the end, of course, they were too tired to fight anymore."

Frisk couldn't help smiling at how epic she made it sound. Undyne seemed very proud of herself. She finished her sandwich in four bites, making the cuts disappear without a trace.

"Ah! I was beginning to forget how much fun battles could be!"

"BUT, UNDYNE. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NEW MONSTER?" Papyrus said after entering the kitchen.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! After they stopped fighting I dropped them on the bed again, but they just sort of climbed onto that tall wardrobe and kept growling at me. They refused to come down, but at least they didn't try to escape again. That's when I-"

But she was interrupted when her phone emitted an "ORA, ORA, ORA!". Frisk couldn't recognize the anime that came from. Undyne checked her phone and facepalmed.

"Oh, ffff-"

"UNDYNE!" Papyrus scolded while covering Frisk's ears.

"I-I mean: Oh, fudge!" she corrected herself. "I have like twenty messages from Alphys! She's probably gone into a panic already."

She ran towards the front door, but stopped just before stepping into the porch to shout over her shoulder:

"I left the keys for their room on the table! Don't go down there without someone strong enough to supervise, or without a plan, you hear me?!" And with that said she was out.

Frisk and Papyrus returned to the living room. Where Sans was now passing the channels on the small T.V. Asgore had bought.

"H-HEY, FRISK." Papyrus called them.

Frisk turned to see him, and grew a little worried. He was fidgeting a little and a few beads of sweat had formed on his skull. At the sudden nervous tone, Sans looked at him as well.

"What's wrong?" they asked.

"WHY DO YOU THINK ALL OF THAT HAPPENED?" he said a little more quietly than normal. "COULD I HAVE SAID SOMETHING RUDE WITHOUT REALIZING IT? DID THE NEW MONSTER THINK THAT I WAS GOING TO HARM THEM?"

"nah, bro. you didn't say anything wrong." Sans said before Frisk could even respond. "they are probably just really confused right now. you know, with all the being drugged thing and all. besides," he added with a wink "you are just too likable for anyone in their right mind not wanting to be your friend."

Frisk nodded in agreement and extended their arms towards him. Papyrus beamed at both of them. He picked Frisk up and took them towards Sans so that his brother could join the hug.

"YOU'RE RIGHT! I JUST NEED TO GET THROUGH TO THEM! I KNOW I CAN DO IT! WE'LL TEACH THEM HOW GREAT ALL OUR FRIENDS ARE, SO THEY'LL END UP WANTING TO BE PART OF OUR GROUP! IT'S BRILLIANT! AND OF COURSE, OUR LITTLE HUMAN MUST HELP!" he turned to look at Frisk with a radiant smile "NO ONE I KNOW IS FASTER THAN YOU TO MAKE FRIENDS! EXCEPT FOR ME, OBVIOUSLY! YOU CAN SURELY HELP THE PROCESS."

Frisk pondered what he said. It wasn't a bad idea. Maybe if they managed to make them behave like… not what they were currently behaving like, they would be able to make the important human adults reduce their sentence or even completely avoid it!

"and, you know" sans said with a smirk "if everything else fails, you could always just go on a date with them. you know, like you did to make friends with everyone?"

Frisk groaned and covered their face in embarrassment. He was just never going to let them forget that, was he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, (which, again, got longer than I thought). Please comment and tell me how I did! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!


	3. Silence

Two weeks had passed and no one had been able to approach the new monster without ending wounded one way or another. Undyne was one to visit them frequently. As troublesome as this was, she insisted that it was necessary to extract some sort of information about the case. She would say something among the lines of 'if monsters don't show they can handle the legal and criminal-prosecuting aspects of the surface, especially the ones involving their own species, then what credibility will they have in the future?'.

However, Asgore was definitely the one that took the worst part. Nice as he was, he took it upon himself to make sure that the monster had anything they needed. That meant going down to the basement three times a day to leave food and water, and returning upstairs with new cuts and bites each time. Many monsters told him he shouldn't even bother, seeing how his "guest" refused all the food offered to them. Since monster food didn't spoil, this wasn't too much of a problem, so Asgore just changed the ration hoping that, someday, the monster wouldn't be able to resist one of the options.

That day, as Frisk walked towards Asgore's house, they couldn't help but wonder in what state their father would be. They also wondered what news he would have about the monster. He usually visited the improvised prison cell more than just at the times of the meals to try and talk to them. Most times it would result in being glared or growled at, but he insisted he was making progress. Toriel had forbidden Frisk from going down there after hearing of the struggle with Undyne the day that the monster arrived, so his stories were all the information they could get of the situation.

Well, his and Papyrus' stories. The skeleton had also been visiting as frequently as he could. Sans, Undyne and Asgore had managed to convince him to not enter the cell, so instead he just sat outside of it and talked of whatever he thought the monster could find interesting. At first, it hadn't gone so well, but recently he wasn't as screeched at as the former king was. Frisk hoped the monster actually listened at what Papyrus said. Because he always knew what was happening, well, everywhere, it would be a nice way of introducing them to the other monsters lives, and hopefully make them want to join them.

When Frisk reached the house, they knocked on the front door to be polite. Asgore almost always opened immediately after and told them that they could just enter without knocking because his home was their home. However, there wasn't even an answer from inside the house this time. Frisk frowned. Asgore knew that they were coming, so he would be expecting them, right? Maybe they had knocked too softly. They knocked again. No response.

Growing a little worried Frisk decided to do as Asgore had told them many times and enter without getting an answer. At first, they just peeked from the door. Nothing seemed out of place. Nothing was destroyed or cut or had feathers stuck in it. They let out a sigh of relief. At least the monster hadn't tried to escape. Asgore had probably just rushed to buy something for Frisk before they arrived. He liked surprising them with a little something every time. Frisk smiled and hoped it was chocolate chip cookies.

They placed the little backpack they had brought with them on the couch and sat to wait for the king. It wasn't too long before they grew bored. They got up to look for the remote in hopes that there was something good on T.V. They found it… all the way up on a shelf. Determined to not let their height beat them, Frisk looked for something to help them reach that remote. As soon as they saw a stool near the entrance of the kitchen, they ran towards it and picked it up. However, their mission to watch T.V. was suddenly forgotten when they turned around and found themself looking directly at the door leading to the basement. It was surely in a strange place, right in the middle of the wall between the living room and the kitchen. You would think that's where a bathroom for visits would be.

Frisk slowly placed the stool down and stared at the nice wooden door. A key was sticking out of the lock and they couldn't help but wonder if it was necessary to use magic to open it. They shook their head. They couldn't do that! They should be good and stay away from there. But… maybe they could just check if the door was locked. If it wasn't they'd be helpful and tell Asgore when he returned!

They slowly placed a hand on the knob and tried turning it. The door opened. Okay, they hadn't expected that. Frisk looked down the stairs and noticed there was a source of light coming from somewhere below. Asgore probably left the room of the new monster well illuminated during the day since there were no windows. But what if any of the other rooms' lights were on down there as well?! That would be such a waste of energy! Frisk, of course, couldn't neglect their duty with the planet. Noticing the key-chain to which the key from the door was attached, they took it with them, just in case. Carefully, they descended the stairs, knowing full well they'd find only one room lit up. Regardless of how silent they tried to be, the echo of their steps was still completely audible and shortly before they had finished the trip down, a low growling came in response.

Frisk gulped. They reached for the locket around their neck and gripped it tightly. It had helped raise there DEF in the Underground because anyone who saw it would be reminded of their original owners and they wouldn't attack as strongly with that in mind. But would it protect them today if something happened? This monster didn't know who had owned it and it probably meant nothing for them. They sighed. They wished they had brought the Temmie Armor with them.

Frisk stood at the base of the stairs for a moment and looked left and right to the different halls that lead to the other rooms, before finally glancing to the room just feet away from of them. The metal door had an ominous air, with light coming out from its little barred window. Frisk took a deep breath. Even if their father insisted on the contrary, they knew the monster wasn't opening up to anyone. The thought of changing that filled them with determination, making it possible to SAVE right there. They mentally apologized to Toriel before advancing towards the door. They didn't enjoy disobeying, but they knew they had to do this. And hey, the last time Frisk had insisted on going into a basement without permission ended in them gaining a new family and meeting most of their dear friends.

With trembling hands, they searched for the right key and unlocked the door. They counted to three and then slipped inside the room as quickly as possible. Shutting the door behind them, Frisk didn't dare to look at the new monster just yet. They grew uneasy, however, when the growling suddenly stopped. Fearing they were readying an attack, Frisk turned around to find the monster just where everyone else who went down there found it: on top of the wardrobe. The monster had removed all the covers, pillows and sheets from the bed and made what seemed to be a huge nest on the roof of the wardrobe. They shifted their body so it would be facing directly at the newly arrived human. Frisk instinctively made sure the keys were hidden from sight.

They stared at Frisk with their brows furrowed. They weren't showing teeth or pointing feathers at them, which Frisk took as a good sign. Maybe they didn't feel as threatened because of Frisk's size. They decided to take a chance.

"Umm, hi?" they tried.

Silence.

Frisk risked a glance to the table to try to escape the intense gaze of the monster. They noticed the untouched stew and cinnamon bunny and decided to make it the topic of conversation.

"Uhh, w-why do you keep not eating the food that Dad brings you? Don't monsters need to eat too? "

More silence.

"Is it because you think it's bad? O-or maybe that it will make you sleepy like when you arrived?"

They scolded themself for their stuttering. They had crossed the entire Underground and even fought Flowey in that terrifying form. Then why did this monster seem so menacing?! They snapped out of it when they heard a low rumbling sound. They nervously glanced towards the monster, but their expression was unchanged. Then they realized it hadn't been a growl. But that couldn't be right! Could it…?

"You're hungry, right?" Frisk asked at the same time they took a step forward. The monster flinched at the movement and pressed themself against the wall while emitting a wary hiss. Frisk immediately stopped in their tracks, raising their arms in defense. "J-just… why won't you eat?"

The monster silently glared at them. Frisk could see the tension in their arms, which were trembling a bit. Whether it was from fear, anger or both, they couldn't tell. Maybe they could calm them down. They took another step forward, but froze in place when three feathers accompanied by a screech dug into the carpet just centimeters in front of their feet. After that, they didn't risk to do anything for a couple of minutes. Nonetheless, the monster defensive stance faltered after a while. Frisk wished the silence wasn't so awkward.

This wasn't going anywhere, but they refused to go away until they got.. something. Without showing their back to the monster, Frisk walked towards the stew. The air filled with tension once more, but they took the lack of hostility as permission to continue.

"You, umm, shouldn't continue like this. It's dangerous not to eat! Will you eat if I show you there's nothing to fear?"

Silence.

Frisk put a spoonful in their mouth. It wasn't bad at all! It was just a little cold.

"See? Nothing wrong with it!" they said with a confident smile. Perhaps if they stayed there long enough they would prove they weren't going to fall asleep because of the food.

The monster looked at them with wide eyes, their brow still furrowed. They then broke eye contact with them for the first time by turning their head to the side scornfully. Frisk sighed and their shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Why don't you trust us? We just want to help you…"

Silence. Frisk sat on the floor with their head hanging.

"Your life is in danger. If you don't speak with us we can't do much about it…"

Silence. Frisk looked at them sadly.

"Please…"

Silence.

"Let's be friends…"

Frisk closed their eyes. This definitely wasn't how they expected it to go. The monster hadn't been as grumpy as they had feared, which was saying something because they thought they would have to flee within a couple of seconds of entering the room. However, being ignored wasn't really any better. They tried thinking back to the Underground. They had been really scared, and some monsters were really intimidating. But even if Asgore was big, he was as scary as a teddy bear when not fighting. Undyne… well, they could understand being afraid of her, but even so, she had already made clear she wasn't going to hurt the monster if they didn't try to go out. And there was no way someone could be afraid of Papyrus if they received as many visits as the monster had. He was so nice! …This was not good. But Frisk was determined, and they refused to let this monster die.

"Why are you so scared?" They needed the answer. If Frisk could make them feel safer, then maybe they would begin to trust them.

Silence.

"Is it because you are different from them?"

That got a reaction. The monster snapped their head at them and narrowed their eyes. They seemed to be holding their breath.

"I-I don't think that's bad!" Frisk quickly reassured them. "Maybe it is because you actually never went into the Underground, and the other monsters up here are different as well. It's just that every monster I met for the first time called my soul out of my body to start a FIGHT, but you didn't even try that. A-and you are also able to hurt humans without doing that, like when you cut Mr. Whitley's cheek. But, you know, if you tried talking with my parents, you'd see that they are really nice, and they don't judge people, and they always say it's important not to think badly of differences and-"

"Stop."

Frisk was startled by that. They looked up at the monster, baffled. The tension had dropped from their shoulders and they seemed to have relaxed a little. Despite their voice being hoarse, it was kind of melodious and pleasing to hear. Frisk just stared at them, but when they didn't continue the kid decided to try again.

"So you can talk!" Frisk smiled.

Silence.

"Why do you attack everyone else so much?" Frisk blurted out. The question was nagging at them so badly. After everyone that came here had been treated in such an… aggressive way, they needed to know what they had done so that they could tell the others how to not be attacked. They wanted an answer now that they got them talking. "They just want to help you!"

"Sure, human." was the only answer they got.

Frisk flinched at how angrily they had said the word 'human'.

"But… you haven't been all grumpy like with the others!" they insisted. "And I don't think Dad or Papyrus have been rude to you at all! They really, really want to help you! They don't deserve that!"

Frisk received a glare.

"You don't believe me." They said sadly.

"Why are you here?" The monster said while turning away from them.

Frisk pouted at them. Why were they so stubborn?

"I've told you! I want to be friends! And I want you to stop hurting the monsters that want the same."

Silence.

"I know you are alone and scared. You don't know where you are…" Frisk closed their eyes. They knew the feeling. They remembered a huge cave surrounded by darkness. "But, I learned something not too long ago. Even if you don't know anyone around you… it's okay to ask for help. Somebody will come, even if it takes a little bit." They remembered when they tried to comfort a little white-furred monster.

They opened their eyes. The monster had turned their head sideways to look at them. They were still frowning, but it felt less… unwelcoming.

"Kid…" they finally said. "I'm tired. Go away. Please…"

The monster one again looked away from them and proceeded to lie sideways inside their nest, looking towards the wall. Frisk saw how sluggish their movements were and thought that it couldn't be good. They didn't like the way that 'tired' had sounded like. Maybe they shouldn't have come at all. They hoped they hadn't made the situation any worse.

"I'm sorry." Frisk said with their head lowered. "I'll leave you alone now."

They got up and started walking towards the door, but they stopped for a last question.

"I'm Frisk, by the way. What's your name?"

Silence.

Disappointed, Frisk went to open the door, but…

"Don't have one."

Frisk turned around and looked at them confused.

"You don't have a name?"

Silence.

"Can I… can I choose one for you?" they asked with their voice a little too filled with hope.

The monster took a moment to respond.

"Can't stop you."

Frisk smiled widely at their answer.

"I promise I'll find a good one! One that you'll like!"

Silence. Weeell, conversation over…

Even if the monster didn't seem likely to move, Frisk still made sure to get out of there as swiftly as possible. They would be in trouble the new monster got out because of them. But as they turned around after locking the door, they figured they were in trouble all the same. Right in front of them was Asgore, arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. Oh shoot.

"Uhh, hi! Heh-heh…" Frisk smiled timidly at him. Good thing it wasn't their mom who had seen them here or they would be grounded for an eternity. Hopefully, they could convince Asgore not to tell her.

"Young one, you have a lot of explaining to do." He said while motioning for them to go upstairs. However, he glanced through the little barred window towards the monster and softened his expression. "But I have to say, good job. You sure know how to surprise me every time."

Frisk smiled at the praise and hurried upstairs. If they were going to get grounded, at least they'd have time to think of a good name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!


	4. Detective Frisk on the case!

Frisk tried to concentrate as they, along with Papyrus, attempted to find a suiting name for the new monster. They crossed another two suggestions and gave up for the moment. No matter how much Frisk tried to focus on picking one, they just couldn't stop thinking about the investigation that was going to take place a few hours later. Now they were just sitting at the skeletons' table, trying to kill time before Undyne arrived.

Frisk had been allowed to go because, even if the day before Asgore had seriously considered grounding them for their little unsupervised excursion to the basement, he had later called them, delighted to tell Frisk that the new monster was finally accepting the food he left for them. Asgore suspected it had something to do with Frisk talking to them, so he decided that he wouldn't tell Toriel after all. This automatically meant they would have permission to go investigate with their friends. They would be like a detective!

A lot of people didn't think a kid should be going to investigate a murder case, but as the monster ambassador, (and because monsters' rules on what their ambassadors could or couldn't do were to be respected by the humans) the only people who could really stop Frisk were their mom and dad. Not that they would do that, though. Toriel and Asgore knew from experience how capable Frisk was of taking care of themself. Besides, it's not like they were going alone.

Undyne and Sans were coming along too. The only reason Papyrus wasn't going was because he had already planned another of his talking sessions with the monster. Even if he was dying to go and help solve the 'puzzle' of what happened, he insisted that they should also work hard on making the monster open up to others. And Sans… well, Frisk wasn't sure why he was tagging along, but they suspected Toriel had something to do with it. He had been a lot easier to persuade into doing stuff since the barrier was destroyed.

After 5 very long minutes, Undyne finally arrived accompanied by Greater Dog. She was wearing a black jacket over a white button-up shirt and a pair of jeans. She had said she didn't understand why a lot of humans wore suits and stuff like that for investigations, if the job would be easier in clothes that allowed free movement. She would have liked to wear her armor for this kind of official business, but seeing how humans had much lighter equipment she had to admit it would probably be more of a handicap than an advantage.

As soon as she entered the living room, she dropped on the couch, looking exhausted. Sans, who was sitting on the other end of the couch with his feet on a small coffee table, waved his hand at her. Greater Dog simply jumped out of his armored body and ran to greet Frisk. The kid gladly agreed to pet him.

"bad morning?" asked Sans.

"Yeah." She huffed. "Why do humans like paperwork SO much. It sucks!"

"HELLO, UNDYNE! IS EVERYTHING READY FOR YOUR INVESTIGATION?" Papyrus asked while exiting the kitchen, "I HEARD SOME HUMAN POLITICS WERE TRYING TO INTERFERE WITH YOUR DUTY!"

"HA! Some of those guys don't trust monsters enough to let us manage this kind of situations yet." she grinned, "But, ooh boy, you should have seen the queen! I've never seen anyone making someone eat their words so politely. The rest was filling forms and signing a lot of documents. BORING! Long story short, we now can do whatever the heck we want to help solve the case."

Undyne then turned to face Frisk with a teasing smile.

"Hey, punk! Enough with the petting! I'M your bestie! Why haven't you come and greeted me!"

Frisk just laughed before running to Undyne to hug her. She picked them up in response and returned the hug, squeezing the air out of them. Undyne gave the best crushing hugs.

"So that means we can prove they are innocent!" Frisk said happily after they could recover their breath.

Undyne stopped smiling, however, and she averted her eyes as she put Frisk back down.

"Sorry, Frisk." she said, "Not a chance."

"What…?" Frisk frowned.

"Apparently, the wounds on the men they found had some feathers stuck on them that match the ones our new 'guest' has." She sighed. "Besides, one of the times I tried interrogating them -and got attacked- I took a couple of feathers with me and had Alphys analyze them, since the humans weren't certain if their methods would be accurate enough with magical stuff. Turns out they do come from the same monster."

"So… so they really killed those men?" asked Frisk, crestfallen. They had wanted to believe the monster hadn't done it and would be declared innocent. But they knew what their punishment for murder would be. Especially because they were a monster in a world that didn't quite trust such creatures yet. "Then… then what do we do…"

"aww, c'mon pal." Sans said. He put his hand on Frisk's shoulder. "don't look so down. there's still hope. right, undyne?"

"IS THAT TRUE, UNDYNE?" Papyrus asked, "IF THEY REALLY KILLED SOMEONE THEN THEY NEED ME TO TEACH THEM HOW TO BE A BETTER PERSON, BUT THEY HAVE TO BE ALIVE FOR THAT!"

"Well, yeah. But…"

"What is it? Tell me!" Frisk was practically jumping up and down waiting for the answer. "We have to save them!"

"The only hope we have right now," Undyne said, placing her hands on Frisk's shoulders to stop their bouncing, "is to try and prove that they did it solely in self-defense."

"And do you think that's what happened?" Frisk asked her. They wanted to save the monster, but it probably wasn't a good idea to try to lie about what happened.

Undyne made an unconvinced face.

"I mean, it could have been what happened, but according to the reports I was given, a lot of the attacks were from the back, which many of the human officers are using to assume it was an ambush. It's going to be hard to prove otherwise." She scratched her head in thought. "Ah, dang it! Why can't things be less complicated?!"

"WELL, THAT OBVIOUSLY IS WHAT HAPPENED!" Papyrus said, "NONE OF US HAVE BEEN BACK ATTACKED SINCE THEY ARRIVED! SO, IT'S ONLY LOGICAL TO ASSUME IT WAS AN ACTION COMMITED OUT OF DESPERATION! WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE DRIVEN THEM TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! AND EVEN IF I DON'T CONDONE WHAT THEY DID, I THINK THAT THEY DESERVE TO BE GIVEN THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT! …AND LESSONS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESSFUL SITUATIONS!"

"Heh. You're right, Papyrus." Undyne gave him a big smile. "Well, what are we doing here still? We need to get going if we want a chance to save their life! That weakling better thanks us later for all the trouble we are going through for them!"

She stood up and stretched. Greater Dog barked twice excitedly, before jumping back (head first) into his armor. Undyne facepalmed and hurried to help him into a better position.

"aren't you forgetting a little something?" Sans asked, "you haven't even told us where we are going to."

"Oh. Right."

Undyne took out a map from one of the pockets of her jacket and placed it on the coffee table so that everyone could see it. She then pointed at the destined location.

"Right here. That's where the bodies were found, supposedly."

"In a forest?" Frisk asked her, "Wait. What do you mean by 'supposedly'?"

"The murder was two years ago. The humans had been looking for that monster for a long time now." she explained.

"But if it was so long ago, is there anything we can do?"

"hey, don't underestimate us, pal." Sans said, winking at Frisk, "humans have never been as perceptive with magic business as we monsters are. if they missed anything, we'll notice."

"TRUE! IT'S ONE OF THE MANY ADVANTAGES OF BEING A MONSTER! I WOULD EVEN DARE TO SAY THAT IT'S ONE OF THE BEST." Papyrus agreed. "WELL, THE BEST BESIDES BELONGING TO THE SAME SPECIES AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, OF COURSE!"

"Ugh! You all really like to delay things too much!" Undyne said while she shoved the map back into her pocket. "We have to get going or we won't do any progress today!"

"GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR INVESTIGATION!" Papyrus told them all. Then he looked at Sans with a stern face. "BROTHER, I EXPECT YOU TO WORK HARD ON THIS MISSION! A LIFE IS AT STAKE!"

"sure." Sans gave him a thumbs-up and a lazy grin.

Papyrus immediately smiled, contented with the answer.

"GOOD!" And with that he left the house, probably going to his one-sided talking session with the new monster.

"Our transport should be here shortly." Undyne announced, "It's not that long of a ride, but-"

"oh, that won't be necessary." Sans said, finally getting up. Gosh. Frisk didn't know how someone could stay in the same position for so long without moving.

"Eh? Why not? You aren't actually planning on walking all the way there, are you?" Undyne said, looking at him with a skeptical expression on her face.

Frisk already knew the answer before Sans could even say it out loud. And by the grin they were getting from the skeleton, he knew they knew.

"Been to that forest before. I know a shortcut."  
.  
.  
.  
What would have probably been an hour by car, turned into a five minute walk. Undyne seemed like she wanted to question it, but she reconsidered it after reasoning that it wasn't likely she would get a serious answer. Besides, there was no time for that. As soon as they arrived to the place, they got down to work.

According to what had been said to Undyne, the crime was committed in that clearing, which had a radius of about four meters. It wasn't a very dense forest, so nothing really menacing was in sight. The place actually seemed rather peaceful. Any trace of something bad happening there had been utterly erased a long time ago, either by the elements or the humans that first took the case. Frisk wasn't a hundred percent sure they would find anything at all that could help them, but they trusted their friends. Undyne hadn't been the head of the Royal Guard only because of her strength. Frisk actually knew by experience she was highly capable of tracking and predicting opponents and they looked up to her because of that.

Greater Dog, eager to please his leader, didn't waste any time to begin sniffing every inch of the area the team had delimited. Undyne followed him closely, occasionally planting a spear on certain spots. Frisk, meanwhile, just stood there frowning, not knowing how to help nor what was happening at that moment.

"heh. confused?" came Sans voice behind Frisk.

"Yeah. What are they doing?"

Sans shrugged and joined them by their side.

"eh. it's kind of complicated if you haven't studied monster biology."

He took his left hand out of his pocket and extended it in front of him with his palm up. A tiny leaf on the ground was suddenly enveloped in a blue aura before floating up and landing on Sans open hand. He closed his fingers around it and then kept talking without letting the blue aura disappear.

"you know monsters are made of magic, right? well, so are our attacks. thing is, without a steady flow of magic, they tend to dissipate quickly if the monster they originated from isn't close enough or didn't specifically intended for them to last."

"You mean like Papyrus' bone attacks?"

"yup. since he doesn't get to fight often, he likes to keep those as little memories. dissipated attacks become invisible and inoffensive, but they stay in the general vicinity, floatin' around and stuff. things like rain and wind can't touch them."

"But… didn't they say that the feathers were what killed those men? Do you think the monster left them on purpose?"

"seems like the only answer, but does that make sense to you?"

Frisk shook their head.

"thought so. for some reason, every feather that has come from that fella has stayed solid enough for humans to pick it up. that also means we aren't getting any of those around here, since the human officers probably took off with all of them already."

"Then…" Frisk said impatiently.

"Then we take out our trick under our sleeves." He motioned to Undyne and Greater Dog's work. "even if there are no feathers, magic energy from when the attack was released lingers as well as the attack itself. and because dissipated magic is attracted to constant magic flows, for example the spears, we should be able to tell from where exactly the attacks came from and how they moved. g' dog there should be able to tell us if it's the same magic as the one of our new buddy."

Sans finally let the leaf fall to the ground, blue aura gone. Frisk stared at it as it fell. They guessed he too had been trying to search for magic traces on it. They wondered if it was an ability only certain monsters had. Undyne at least seemed like she needed Greater Dog for it…

"This can't be right! Extend the radius of search by ten meters!"

Frisk and Sans turned to face Undyne at her sudden outburst. Her canine underling hurried to do as she said and sprinted into the vegetation.

"what's up?" Sans asked her.

"Greater Dog can't find a strong track, and he's our best magic sniffer! It should be here. I mean, there is something, but it's so insignificant we can't do anything about it!" she explained.

"Is it theirs?" Frisk asked.

"Well, yes." Undyne admitted "But it's not enough! NGAHHH! This SUCKS!"

Greater Dog returned with his ears lowered. He whimpered while shaking his head. So he hadn't found anything.

"I don't get it. I'm sure we didn't do anything wrong." Undyne said with a sigh.

"and this place is kind of remote for some monster to just have passed and accidentally pulled the magic to them." Sans shrugged.

An idea occurred to Frisk. Whenever they didn't know what to do in the underground, the answer or a hint used to be somewhere else. They frowned while considering it, but shook their head dismissingly. That couldn't be possible, could it? However, they didn't get the opportunity to just let it go, because Sans didn't miss their expression.

"something on your mind, kiddo?"

"W-well, it's just…" They didn't know how to say it. It would probably sound rude. "What if… they were wrong?"

"What do you mean, punk?" Undyne said.

"Well, uh, maybe they only thought the m-murder" They made a little pause at that word. "was here. Maybe it was somewhere else…"

An absolute silence suddenly settled around them as what the kid said started to sink in. Well, Frisk hadn't expected for them to take it that bad. They fidgeted with their hands before trying to correct themself.

"I didn't mean-!"

"THOSE BASTARDS!" Undyne yelled at the top of her lungs, making Frisk startle.

"ooh, undyne. i'm telling paps." Sans smirked.

"Shut up!" Undyne shot him a glare. "And Frisk, you too! Don't tell the queen or Papyrus that I said that in front of you!"

Frisk assured her that they wouldn't say a thing about it, but quickly turned their attention to the skeleton, who was now staring at the glowing spears.

"i guess that's what we get for trusting in humans, huh?" he said.

Now Frisk was even more confused. Normally their friends didn't act like that for just a mistake.

"I don't get it." they said, "They probably just overlooked-"

"nope."

"Huh?"

"No surprise the only photos I got were from the time that the bodies had already been moved out of here." Undyne said under her breath, although her voice clearly revealed how upset she was.

"kid, you're right about something." Sans told them, "the attack didn't happen here, but there is a good chance that someone didn't want us to know that."

"And I know humans have a ton of methods to determine if a body has been moved or not. They couldn't possibly miss that, especially because that monster's aim is awful! The place would be enough of a mess for them to figure that out." Undyne continued, "So either the humans are just plain lying to us, or they decided to ignore that 'little' fact for their convenience."

"seems to me that we got enough not-evidence for now to buy us some time." Sans said, "should we head back? all this standing around is making me tired."

Frisk guessed they could do nothing more in that place, but they still felt like they hadn't accomplished much in terms of helping the new monster. They let out a sad sigh that earned them a pat on the back from Sans. Greater Dog, on the other hand, perked up at Sans suggestion and ran to join him and Frisk.

"You didn't do anything! Why are you tired!" Undyne scowled at Sans.

"hey. If you wanted to get back the long way, you should've just said so." His mischievous smile could only be compared with the one he wore when he was about to make a pun.

"You wouldn't-" Undyne started just to be interrupted.

"c'mon, kid, g' dog. i think she wants us to spear her the shortcut." And in the blink of an eye, he teleported the three of them out of the forest, leaving a very mad Undyne behind.

They reappeared at the skeleton's house without a problem. Greater Dog immediately hopped out from his armor and climbed onto the couch for a quick nap. Sans sat beside him and stretched his legs over the coffee table once more. Frisk, meanwhile, just stood there looking dumbfounded. Sans had just left Undyne in a forest hours away from the town. Alone. Without any means of transportation whatsoever. They could only imagine her swearing she would get her revenge on him, rage all over her face. Honestly, they should have felt bad, and they did, but the wink Sans sent in their direction, made them burst in laughter. His smile only widened.

After five minutes, he gave in to Frisk's pouting at him and he got up to bring her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> Man. You won't know how difficult Sans is to write until you try it. Also sorry for the lack of puns, but I don't think it was the best environment for that kind of jokes. I know Papyrus for now isn't getting as much spotlight as he deserves, but I'm planning something for him, so don't worry!
> 
> Also, I didn't expect this to turn into a case of CSI! XP I'll try focusing more on what's currently happening with the new monster (whose name might be revealed next time), but it was necessary for this chapter.
> 
> Well, that's it for today! If you liked the chapter, please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is always appreciated! Have a nice day!


	5. Does it make sense?

"Tune…?"

"Yeah! Tune!" Frisk said "Do you like it?"

They smiled at the monster on top of the wardrobe, who was currently lying on their side, facing the wall. They slightly turned their head to look at Frisk questioningly.

"I-It's because I really like how your voice sounds!" they quickly tried to explain.

At first they had tried selecting a cool name that sounded like sharp objects, because of their feathers and claws. Actually, everything about the monster looked sharp. Like just the act of touching them could cause a cut. However, Frisk realized that maybe their name shouldn't hint at their destructiveness, because then people would be scared of them before getting to know them. So, they tried looking for the most pleasant thing about the monster, and the first one that came to mind was their voice. This lead to a long search of sound related words, which ended with Frisk selecting 'Tune' as the ideal name. Of course, because the few sounds that all of Frisk's friends had heard from the monster were limited to growling, screeching and hissing, everyone disagreed with the kid. It didn't matter, though, because Frisk had been confident that it was the right choice. Nevertheless, now that they were standing in front of the real judge of the name, their confidence faltered a little.

The monster stayed silent for a minute, just carefully watching their eager yet nervous demeanor. Frisk almost felt like that sharp look alone could bore holes into them. Finally, the monster went back to stare at the wall.

"My voice, huh?" they said, "Fine."

"Really?! You like it?" Frisk eyes sparkled with joy. Alright, maybe the monster wasn't even half as excited as they were about it, but Frisk was proud they had managed to make the monster accept something from them without reluctance. "Then… Nice to meet you, Tune!"

The newly named 'Tune' shifted in the cloth nest to lie on their belly and face towards Frisk. The movement caused Frisk to tense a bit and glance nervously at the monster.

Truth be told, the new monster still managed to make Frisk really anxious, even after visiting them several times. The visits had started shortly after the investigation with Sans and Undyne. To their father's dismay, Frisk kept sneaking into the monster's room to try and make them talk some more. Although it hadn't been working, Asgore had seen the positive reaction the kid had gotten out of the new monster the first time they snuck in their room, and he intuited that Frisk could make more progress than the king himself ever could. So he convinced Toriel that the monster was behaving exceptionally well lately, which had allowed Frisk to visit Tune more frequently. This could be considered a lot considering a couple of weeks had already passed since the investigation.

Frisk was worried that Toriel would want to visit to verify Asgore's words, because they wouldn't describe Tune's behavior as good, but they had to admit it wasn't a complete lie either. Tune had stopped growling at everyone, preferring now to just plain ignore them all (unless anyone tried to get too close). That… was another issue, though.

As far as Frisk knew, Tune had only spoken to them. Not that they said much, when they did choose to talk. Sometimes they would ignore Frisk as much as they would the others, albeit that happened mostly when someone stayed to watch Frisk through their visits to Tune. The monster wouldn't open their mouth if someone other than Frisk was in the room, and they would only reluctantly talk if the guardian stayed on the other side of the door. Frisk's solution to that was just outside the room.

Tune frowned and took a quick look at the door, causing Frisk to wonder if the monster could sense whether someone was behind it or not. After a moment, they shook their head and returned their attention to the kid.

"Frisk… Right?" they finally said.

"Oh!" Frisk exhaled a shaky breath. "Y-yeah! So you remember!"

That was good. At least they knew Tune was actually listening when spoken to.

Frisk looked at their watch. 1:25 P.M. They still had a couple of minutes before they needed to go. Moving slowly as to not startle the monster, Frisk took a package of cookies out of their bag, sat on the floor and started eating them.

"You know," Frisk said "we haven't found anything new lately. Undyne has been trying to discover the reason to why they lied to us about the place where everything happened."

They tried thinking carefully about what they should say next. Tune had already narrowed their eyes at them, and if they said anything wrong, the monster would just clam up for the rest of the day. They normally tolerated the progress reports Frisk brought to them, though.

"We really, _really_ don't know what to do or what happened. We, uh, we could use some help?" they tried.

But Frisk sighed when they saw that Tune wasn't paying attention to them anymore, and instead, they were staring at the last two cookies in the human's hands.

"Oh. Do you want them? I'm kind of full."

Frisk stood up and offered the cookies to the monster. Tune didn't make a move for the offer, and, if anything, backed up a little. Frisk's shoulders slumped in disappointment. It wasn't the first time it had happened. They would have to leave them on the table and exit the room for Tune to take the cookies. They wondered if they would trust them fully one day. Frisk frowned as a thought occurred to them.

"You like human food a lot, don't you?" the kid asked them.

Tune brows shot up, but they didn't answer.

"Every time I come over with human food you always look like you want it. Did many monsters here in the surface couldn't eat monster food? Are you used to eat like a human?"

Tune avoided their eyes, confirming Frisk suspicions.

"Didn't you miss eating monster food? Or… maybe you never had any?"

Silence… although it was accompanied by quick glances to the cookies.

"Don't worry, then!" Frisk said with a big smile. "I'll tell Dad to change the menu so that you can eat all the human food you want!"

The watch beeped. 1:30 P.M. Time to go. Frisk calmly went to put the cookies on the table and said goodbye to their newly named friend. Tune didn't bother to acknowledge them and simply turned around to return to their previous position. Frisk didn't let it get to them. They knew Tune would ask for help sooner or later and Frisk would be sure to be there when they did. No one should go through what they had to all alone.

Frisk rapidly slipped through the door and immediately locked it behind them. They turned around to find Sans leaned against the right wall of the corridor. He lazily waved at them and motioned to the stairs with his head. Frisk nodded and hurried to go upstairs. They knew they would find Sans up there when they reached the living room. He was the monster whose presence behind the door was the only one Tune couldn't detect. Besides, he managed to come and go without a sound between rooms, so there was no way he would be noticed unless he wanted to. He was also pretty capable of hiding his magic flow, which Tune somehow seemed to be able to measure. In fact, the first time Sans had tried watching over Frisk during one of these visits, Tune hadn't taken their eyes off him, letting out occasional growls through the whole thing. Frisk… didn't know how to feel about that. They hoped Tune couldn't tell how strong Sans really was, or it would be hard to get them to trust him.

"hey, there." Sans greeted them from the couch as soon as they stepped through the door. "seems like they accepted the name, huh?"

Frisk nodded happily.

"heh. it looks like they have relaxed quite a bit since they arrived, don't you think?"

"Yeah! They are making a lot of progress! Maybe they'll even tell us what happened by next week!"

"let's hope so. and talking about progress, shouldn't we be heading out already? i mean, i have no problem with staying right here since undyne isn't too eager to see me again."

Sans shrugged nonchalantly. Frisk just smiled at him and crossed their arms. While Undyne wasn't being overly rude to him, it was clear she still didn't appreciate the skeleton's little prank. In fact, as revenge, she had convinced Toriel to ask him to be the main transportation between operations, knowing full well he couldn't bring himself to refuse any favor the queen asked of him. Of course, this was a direct attack to Sans' lazy tendencies.

"i'm sure alphys already has some information for us, though, so how about we get going?" Sans stood up and started walking to the front door.

"Alright!" Frisk hurried to follow after him. They were actually quite excited to visit Alphys. It had been a while since they had last seen the scientist. She did live close enough to Dawn, but her new lab-house was some miles away from the town itself. She still didn't like crowds and adding that to all that was happening, Frisk just hadn't had a good chance to visit her. Well, at least they wouldn't have to wait much more, because after they took a single step through Asgore's front door, they found themselves besides Sans, in front of the ex-Royal Scientist's home.

.

.

.

Frisk thought Alphys' new place was cozy. Since Undyne was now living with her, more space was added to the house, which included the living room they were now in. The fact that it was a total chaos added to the charm of the place, with random anime merchandise decorating walls and furniture, and a vast array of weapons visible everywhere you looked.

Frisk was sitting on a puff while they waited for Alphys to return from the back of the lab. After she had greeted them, she asked Sans to follow her for a moment, because she needed a second opinion on something before feeling confident in reaching a conclusion. So Frisk was left alone in the room.

It wasn't too long before Alphys and the skeleton came back. To Frisk's surprise, Undyne appeared behind Sans. That was a bit weird since she seemed to hate being inside the actual lab, probably because of how careful she had to be around all the equipment. None of their expressions told Frisk much.

"Soooo," they said impatiently, "what did you discover?"

"A headache" Undyne said, dropping on the puff next to Frisk's. Sans just stood there, looking thoughtful.

"W-well," Alphys started, "i-it's pretty hard to explain. I really wished I had a-another monster from up here to compare results, but…"

"There haven't been any reports about another one in years, apart from that punk." Undyne said, "So we only get what we already have."

"I-I can't really make a theory without having testing more variables a-and observing more subjects, b-but my hypothesis on the reason that this monster's magic attacks are so durable is because they have been affected by their environment. It probably happened to o-other monsters too, through the generations…"

"What do you mean?" Frisk asked.

"W-well, it's just an idea, but it seems that, somehow, the monsters up here slowly modified according to the needs of living with humans as a major t-threat. At f-first I was really confused when Undyne brought those feathers to me, because I couldn't imagine a reason why they were lasting so much, and s-so far from their caster t-too! So I ran a few tests on them and I found that they had an a-abnormally high level of physical matter on them."

"Huh? But…" Now Frisk was confused. "Aren't monsters made of magic?"

"Well, we are, b-but we do have a small amount of physical matter to help keep our forms solid. At first I was sure I was doing something wrong, so I kept repeating the processes again and again. R-right now, I have n-no doubt that's what is happening. A-at least with this monster."

"And why did that happen to monsters like Tune?"

"Tune? Is _that_ what you called them?" Undyne looked at Frisk incredulous. "You need to wash your ears better, Frisk! I can certainly tell you that whatever comes out of that mouth of theirs is not a song!"

Frisk pouted at her, but opted to look expectantly at Alphys for her to continue.

"W-well, it is a nice name, I think?" She timidly smiled at Frisk. "A-anyways! The reason might be that the monsters slowly began gaining more matter to resist human attacks. It seems like a plausible explanation, a-and it might be useful to us, since we might be able to track those attacks to where they originally formed… b-but even so, there is still one thing that is b-bothering me…"

Alphys paused. She seemed… unsure, for some reason. She frowned and started pacing the room from left to right, probably searching for the appropriate words. Frisk was getting nervous just by watching her, and the question left their lips before they could help it.

"Is it… really bad?"

"it's not about it being bad." Sans said, looking sideways at Frisk. "it's about if it's possible or not. or rather, that it actually shouldn't be."

"It's," Alphys gulped. "determination."

The room fell awfully quite. Since the situation with the Amalgamates had been made public, Alphys had wished to just forget all about it, and the sole word 'determination' always made her uncomfortable. Frisk hoped she wasn't pushing herself too much with these experiments.

"There is," she continued, "a worrying level of determination in T-Tune's body. The only other monster that I know that has been able to live with such levels of that substance is…"

Alphys turned to look at Undyne with anxious eyes. Frisk felt their chest tighten when suddenly an image of Undyne melting appeared in their head. They didn't even want to imagine what Alphys must be feeling, having watched many monsters losing their forms because of an excess of determination. She probably feared it would happen to Undyne too.

"Aww, come on Alph! Don't look at me like that." Undyne said, obviously guessing what was going through Alphys' mind. "You've made the tests, already! You said that as long as most of my determination remained dormant, I should be fine and kicking butts!"

"M-maybe, but… that's the issue. The determination in Tune's body is… active. It has recently begun to decrease, if we go by the latest results of the newer feathers. B-but it's still too much, even for their amount of physical matter. I-I s-simply can't f-find an explanation to why they h-haven't…"

She shuddered. Undyne immediately got off the puff and went to put a comforting arm around her girlfriend's shoulders. Frisk thought it for the best to just change the topic.

"Well, um, Tune still won't talk about what happened. Do you have any ideas?"

"Maybe not ideas, but I do have some news!" Undyne announced, " _Apparently_ , there's been a 'delay' and the information of the men that were killed is 'not available'" She imitated whoever told those last two words to her in an arrogant voice.

"Aaand I guess that information is necessary, right?" Frisk deflated. Why were the human adults so bad at cooperating? Didn't they want to help so that everyone could live in peace?

"Those jerks are holding their identities for some reason. It's all very suspicious if you ask me!" She held her fist in front of her and tightened it as if she could squeeze the truth out of those people just by doing that. She huffed, but then her eyes landed on Alphys, and her furious expression was replaced with a smile. "Fortunately, everyone's favorite nerd right here will show those humans that monsters aren't as stupid as they think! Right, Alphys?"

She slapped Alphys on the back, making her flinch but smile all the same.

"Y-yeah! I've been studying humans' digital storage systems a-and I think I will be able to create a program that, will let me h-hack them without, um, being d-discovered!" Alphys' face illuminated at the idea.

"That's the spirit!" Undyne said. "And with the Canine Unit searching the true place of the crime, we should be able to brag right in front of those human faces that they can't take _us_ for fools!"

Undyne let go of Alphys to stand on the table in the middle of the room and hold a magical spear over her head with one hand while the other rested on her hip. Alphys giggled and watched her in admiration, blushing slightly. Frisk smiled fondly at them. They really were giving it their all to solve the case. Frisk knew that if they continued like this, they would be able to prove in no time that Tune deserved to live. Their smile fell a little, however, when they looked at Sans. He was unusually quiet, and he was just staring into the distance. His ever present smiled looked like a grimace.

"Sans? Are you okay?" Frisk asked him. Undyne and Alphys, noticing the change in the human's mood, remained silent waiting for the answer.

"eh, it's nothing. don't worry about it, kid" He shrugged. But, of course, when someone told Frisk not to worry about it they could just do the opposite. So they did the only thing they knew would make him talk: they latched to his arm in a death grip and made the biggest pout they could. Sans looked at them and let out a sigh.

"i just have a bad feeling about this." He said closing his eyes. However, his smile suddenly widened and without bothering to open his eye sockets he said, "I guess you could say…"

"DON'T!" Undyne jumped to try and cover his mouth, but the skeleton was out of her reach within a second.

"…that I feel it in my _gut_."

The responses were two female groans and a little laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! I'm back! I once again have stable Internet, so let's hope I can bring you regular updates! I was kind of busy and I couldn't write as much as I wanted so no multiple chapters for now. Sorry! D: However, I'm working on a new Undertale fic! Don't worry, it doesn't mean I will stop updating this one or How to Make Friends, so I hope you'll check it out when it's up!
> 
> Well, that's everything I wanted to say for now. Please comment and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!


	6. Puzzling visits

Tune stared at the mess of papers in their nest. It was starting to take too much space. They would have to find another proper place to put those if they wanted them to stay intact. Tune neatly stacked them into a pile. Ah, there was the pen; under crossword number three and the tenth maze. They grabbed the newest sheet of paper and reviewed their progress. They were missing just the last word in this one. What had that guy called it? Young… Jumble, or something among those lines.

Just as they deciphered the word 'Patience', there was a knock on the door. Tune tensed immediately. They remained silent and halted every movement, waiting for whoever was there to speak. Considering all the time they had been there, they had a pretty good idea who it was, but it was better to be prepared in case of being wrong. Time was easy to get mixed when you couldn't even see the sunlight.

"GOOD DAY, MY DEAR FRIEND!" Oh, just him. Never mind. "I HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT YOU NOW HAVE A NAME OF YOUR OWN. THAT IS FANTASTIC NEWS, INDEED!"

They didn't answer. They never did. And even if he was aware of it, he would always give them enough time between his own statements in case they did want to speak. He was a curious guy, this Papyrus. And yes, they knew his name. How could they not if he repeated it like it was his favorite word? Probably was.

"TUNE! I MUST APOLOGIZE!" he said with a melancholic tone, "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CANNOT FOLLOW THROUGH WITH MY PROMISE OF DELIGHTING YOU WITH MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI!"

Actually, scratch that. Thinking back, his favorite word was probably 'spaghetti'.

"APPARENTLY, ASGORE IS CONVINCED YOUR PALADAR IS NOT YET READY FOR THE MAGNIFICENCE THAT IS MY COOKING. BUT WORRY NOT! I'LL MAKE SURE ITALIAN DISHES ARE GRADUALLY SERVED TO YOU, NOW THAT FRISK HAS INFORMED US OF YOUR PREFERENCE FOR HUMAN FOOD!"

Frisk. That was another favorite of his.

"THAT WAY, YOU'LL BE READY TO TRY THE SUPERIORITY OF MY SPAGHETTI IN NO TIME! IT'S THE PERFECT SOLUTION! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

They could hear his loud voice echoing through the corridor. After weeks and weeks of listening to it, Tune was long ago able to identify it as the one that belonged to the first monster they saw when they arrived. The memory was still fuzzy and they couldn't quite remember how he looked - _stupid sedatives_ -, but there was no mistaking that voice.

"SAY FRIEND," Papyrus said casually, "HAVE YOU FINISHED ALL THE PUZZLES I HAVE BROUGHT TO YOU YET?"

Tune glanced at the stack of papers, their face warming a little. They had ignored them when they had appeared under the door at first; as much as they had Papyrus' earliest 'talking' sessions. They didn't want to do anything that gave their captors the slightest idea they were going to listen to them. Tune wasn't a fool. They knew how it all worked.

Afterwards, that huge furry monster (Asgore, if they remembered correctly), would take the papers with him and return them to Papyrus, just so that he could offer them to Tune once again. It was getting annoying, until one day he came to the 'realization' that maybe they didn't understand puzzles, because perhaps they hadn't come across many of them on the surface. So he explained how to solve the first puzzle. Truth was, he wasn't that far off. Tune finally succumbed to boredom, and when they picked the paper up, they realized they couldn't have known what to do without instructions. They really hadn't done any puzzles before. Though it also took him a week to finally have the idea of giving Tune a pen…

"I THINK THAT, MAYBE," Papyrus continued, bringing them back from their thoughts. "THEY ARE GETTING KIND OF… REPETITIVE. AND I DREAD TO EVEN THINK YOU COULD BECOME BORED BECAUSE OF A LACK OF VARIETY!"

They heard the door creaking a little. Huh. Judging by Papyrus' character, he most likely had leaned dramatically against it. Tune couldn't tell from there. He was either not tall enough for them to see him through the window in the door, or he was sitting down while talking.

"BECAUSE OF THAT! I THINK IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF PUZZLES! HERE I HAVE WITH ME THE KEY FOR YOUR NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT! I PRESENT TO YOU…"

Tune waited. Nothing slid under the door.

"HMMM… ACTUALLY, MAYBE THIS ONE IS TOO BIG TO GIVE IT TO YOU THE CONVENTIONAL WAY." he paused for a second. "WAIT HERE, MY FRIEND! I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!"

The sound of quick steps in the distance told Tune he had run upstairs. They sighed. They really didn't know what to think of the guy. He had an enormous ego, that was for sure. But, in a way, it felt like he was trying to _give_ that ego to everyone else. He always talked about his friends like it was the best thing that ever happened to him. Tune practically knew everyone by name because of how often he mentioned them (they wouldn't admit it though). Frisk, Alphys, Undyne, Queen Toriel, King Asgore, Sans –who was spoken of in an especially fond manner; all in the favorite-to-talk-about list. It was really impressive how he could just pick one of them and talk for hours without needing Tune to participate in the 'conversation'. It was… nice. They could deny it all they wanted, but the truth was that they had found themself very interested in everything he had to say. Topics varied from the Underground to the many discoveries he made on the surface. Tune wonder if this was what it felt like when someone read a book to you. They tried to imagine his tales. Caverns with crystals that shone as stars, adventures with their friends in the little area of their town, a robotic star… It almost was too much.

Tune frowned. They knew they were envious and they hated it. They didn't like wanting something that one (or all) of their captors had. They didn't like wanting something they knew was out of their reach. They didn't like wanting what Papyrus constantly offered to them. What he was trying to convince them that he and his friends could offer them. They didn't even know how Frisk had made them accept their new name so easily. They sighed.

That… had to be their strategy, right? All of them were just trying to break them. To make Tune believe it was for the better if they listened. They were just rubbing in their face what they had, just so that in the moment they accepted their offers, they would take it all away. It was cruel. And the scariest part? It all seemed less of a charade with every day that passed.

"I HAVE RETURNED, MY FEATHERY FRIEND!" The loud voice interrupted Tune's thoughts once again. "AND I HAVE BROUGHT THE KEY TO SOLVING OUR CONUNDRUM! …LITERALLY."

Wait. What?!

Tune heard the lock of the door click open and they automatically stiffened. They weren't expecting he would come in. They focused on his every move. Papyrus' magic power wasn't a secret. It was one of the easiest to detect since not only he didn't hide it, but rather he exposed it like a badge of honor, whether he did it consciously or not. He wasn't as strong as that fish lady, Undyne, but he could certainly deal a good amount of damage if he wanted to.

Tune breathed in and out, trying to calm themself. By the time Papyrus had closed the door behind him, they had managed to put up a disinterested face. It didn't even waver when they finally saw Papyrus clearly. They had known he was a skeleton, since they had seen his brother a lot. Ah, yes. Now they remembered him better from the first day they had arrived. He wasn't as tall as Asgore, so he wouldn't be able to reach them on the wardrobe, but his height gave him a bit of an advantage. A red scarf (cape?) was hanging loosely from his neck. It would be good for blinding him momentarily, if it came to it. Tune examined him some more before realizing he was saying something.

"AND HERE IT IS, JUST AS I PROMISED! I PRESENT TO YOU..."

Papyrus placed himself in the exact center of the room and raised a cardboard box above his head.

"…THE JIGSAW PUZZLE!"

He waited for a reaction. Tune did nothing. Papyrus continued as if he'd received one.

"AH! YOU MUST BE PONDERING: WHAT IS THIS JIGSAW PUZZLE THAT THIS COOL SKELETON IS TALKING ABOUT?" He placed a hand on his chin in an exaggeratedly thoughtful gesture. "WELL, I'LL EXPLAIN! IN THIS KIND OF PUZZLE YOU FIT MULTIPLE PIECES TOGETHER UNTIL THEY FORM A FANTASTIC PICTURE! AH, THE THRILL CAUSED BY THE SLOW BUT STEADY PROGRESS! THE EXCITEMENT WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE JUST A FEW PIECES AWAY FROM SUCCESS! THIS IS INDEED WHAT YOU NEED FOR A REFRESHING CHANGE! AS ALWAYS, THE GRET PAPYRUS COMES THROUGH FOR HIS VALUABLE FRIENDS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Tune was caught off guard when, after he had placed a hand on his chest and smiled at his own 'plan', his scarf-cape started waving as if a breeze was moving it. Tune lost their neutral expression and stared at it, wondering how that was even possible in an _underground room_. Then again, they had seen weirder stuff. They shook their head and regained their composure before he noticed they had been distracted.

"SO… HERE YOU GO!" he said with a smile. He raised the box once again, offering it in her direction. Of course, Tune didn't even move. Problem was, neither did Papyrus. They stared at each other for several minutes, in which the only change that occurred was the shift in the skeleton's eye sockets that went from confident to a little unsure. After another couple of silent minutes, he cleared his throat.

"TUNE." he said, "I-I KNOW THAT THE FIRST TIME WE MET, IT DIDN'T END IN THE MOST PLEASANT WELCOME YOU COULD HAVE HAD."

In that he was right. Tune could never have imagined that being headbutted by a fish could leave such a lasting headache.

"I KNOW THAT YOU MUST HAVE BEEN INTIMIDATED BY MY STRONG AND MUSCULAR DISPOSITION!" He 'flexed' his right arm to prove his point. Tune rolled their eyes. "BUT YOU MUST KNOW THAT I ONLY WISH THE MOST ESTELLAR OF STAYS FOR YOU! AND… I REALLY THINK THIS PUZZLE WOULD HELP THAT GOAL!"

He stretched his arms to hold the box even closer to them. Tune could see an image of a pond on its front. It was pretty. They looked at the box, then at Papyrus, then the box again. They did kind of wanted to know how long it would take them to solve one of these jigsaw puzzles. They gulped. Was there a trick to all this? He had never entered the room before, and Tune had a feeling he wouldn't leave if they didn't grabbed the box. It was getting on their nerves. They felt like the room was a lot smaller with him around. Their muscles were starting to hurt from holding the same tense position and their heartbeat didn't match at all their external calm demeanor. What were they so afraid of? …Well, they knew the answer to that. It was strange how after deciding they didn't care anymore, their survival instincts would kick in. But they were so tired. Too tired to listen to them.

So they closed their eyes. They let themself inhale deeply and then exhale. They wanted to believe so badly in what every monster had tried to tell them during the last couple of weeks. Even after promising themself they wouldn't fall for any tricks… Ha. Maybe they were a fool after all. If something bad happened during the next moments, they would make sure it wouldn't last for long.

After picking up their little collection of puzzles, they climbed down from one of the sides of the wardrobe. They ignored Papyrus' gasp and stayed there for a moment, grasping the front edge of the piece of furniture with their eyes closed. No sounds. He wasn't moving towards them. Good. They opened their eyes and took a step forward, short enough distance that would let them climb back up in a hurry.

Papyrus stayed very still, an encouraging look on his face despite the few drops of sweat on his skull. Tune let go of the wardrobe and advanced two steps further. The box was within reach, as were they. They stretched their arms very slowly, without being able to decide whether to look at the monster or the box. They couldn't hide the slight tremble that coursed through their arms. Their hands finally landed on the smooth surface of the cover. Papyrus waited until they had a good grasp of it before letting go.

Tune's eyes were stuck on the box. When they looked up, what would they see? A condescending grin? An incoming attack? They forced themself to look anyway. A radiant smile received them. Now that they noticed, Papyrus' bones were rattling slightly. He looked like he was trying really hard not to bounce up and down, or say anything for the matter, as if speaking could ruin the moment. Tune was confused, but fortunately, they didn't feel like running away.

Before they could regret it, they extended the hand that was holding the previous puzzles. Papyrus gave them a quizzical look. Tune averted their gaze.

"Can you…"

Papyrus gasped again. He was ignored.

"…store them?"

He didn't say anything as he grabbed the papers. Tune didn't let go right away. They were giving him the only thing they had actually worked on for weeks, after all. Papyrus stared at the puzzles as both of them hold the stack, as if he was trying to decipher something Tune couldn't understand. When they finally let the papers slide from their hand, time seemed to accelerate. Tune hugged the box to themself and backed away. They hurried to return to their makeshift nest before the skeleton could get any ideas to prevent it. But he did nothing, waiting for them to accommodate up there. Then he spoke.

"WOWIE! YOU SOLVED THEM ALL ALREADY! OF COURSE I WILL KEEP THEM SAFE FOR YOU, MY DEAR FRIEND!" he said. He was holding the papers delicately, like they were the most precious treasure in the world. "THANK YOU FOR TRUSTING ME!"

Well, 'trust' wouldn't be the word Tune would use, but at least if the monster was happy he wouldn't insist on staying much longer. They weren't sure they could take any more of this. They nodded briefly at him.

"SO… YEAH! I'LL, UH, I'LL GO NOW!" he announced, "OH, AND, I SEE NOW WHY FRISK CHOOSE THAT NAME FOR YOU! IT CERTAINLY FITS YOU WELL!"

Papyrus looked at the puzzles in his hand, his smile growing wider. Without saying anything more, he exited the room in a dash.

Tune looked at the box in their hands. They ran their thumbs over it, feeling its smooth surface. It must have been pretty new. They wondered if he had bought it instead of just looking for an old one. Tune inspected the image more thoroughly. The pond was inside a clearing in a forest. A few rays of sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tallest trees, making the water shimmer. They carefully removed the cover, half expecting something on its inside to jump at them, but there was only a bag with little cardboard pieces. Tune frowned. Their nest wasn't a straight enough place to keep the pieces together. They would have to use the desk down there. Sighing, they closed the box once again and directed their gaze to the aforementioned desk.

Yeah. They were most definitely a fool.

.

.

.

"hey, there."

Tune jumped at the voice behind them, nearly throwing the seventh piece of their puzzle. They spun around to face whoever had managed to slip into the room without their noticing. For the second time that day, a skeleton stood in front of them. This one, however, was shorter and less imposing. Or that's how it seemed. Tune quickly tensed, bared their teeth and hissed. The monster was between them and the wardrobe so there was no way they would get there without getting closer to him. They jumped backwards onto the bed, putting as much distance between them as they could, which truly wasn't much since the corner they pressed themself against wasn't that far away from where he was. They expanded their wings in an attempt to intimidate the skeleton.

Sans. For some reason, Tune couldn't feel his magic power, their defense, or how much of a threat he was. Nothing… and that freaked them out to no end.

"heh, sorry. didn't mean to give ya the _goose_ bumps." he said with a shrug. Tune resisted the urge to roll their eyes in order to keep them on him. They didn't want more surprises. "don't worry. i won't take too much of your time."

Tune was at a loss of what to do or how to respond. Their chest was expanding and contracting rapidly, and cold sweat settled on their face. They were okay, they were okay. No need to panic, right? As long as he didn't get close, they wouldn't be forced to attack.

"hey. c'mon. no need to get all worked up, there." Sans said while raising his hands to show they were empty. "if you keep reacting like that every time someone comes down here, then you are going to need a lot of _roost_."

Tune forced their lips together to prevent a little smile from coming out. They didn't know if they actually found the joke funny or if they were just hysterical. This was an enemy. Enemy, enemy, enemy. They shouldn't lower their guard. But apparently, the small gesture did not go unnoticed, because the skeleton grinned, satisfied.

"look," he said, shoving his hands back in his pockets. "i didn't get the best first impression from you, ya know? with the first thing you did being an attack to paps and all that…"

He closed his eye sockets. Tune stayed silent. That's what it was all about, huh?

"but… this afternoon he came running to me, all happy and excited, to tell me about the good time he had spent with his new friend." He opened his eyes and looked sideways, as if remembering the scene. "he even began scheduling the next twenty-five visits. you, uh, will probably see him a lot around here."

He waited a moment, giving Tune space to talk. They refused to say anything.

"so, i know you don't usually do much of… anything, really, when someone comes to see you. that's okay. i get not doing anything at all. someone's gotta not do stuff. me included." he winked at them. "but papyrus? he would do everything there is to do in this world if he could, even getting lazy guys like me to move a little bit more. he's cool like that. so… thanks, i guess, for breaking your routine of absolute nothingness just to make him happy. i really appreciate it."

Against Tune's best instincts, they averted their eyes. He sounded genuinely grateful, and they didn't know what to make of that. They didn't know what to make of _anything_ in this crazy place. People weren't nice just because, and Tune just couldn't tell what any of them wanted from them. They slid down on the mattress, letting themself sit down, still without looking at him. They were so tired.

"and hey, who knows?" he continued, "maybe when all of this is over, he could get to show you about the things he's been telling you about. you could say he'd take you under his _wing_."

Tune just couldn't believe this guy.

"and i know that if he keeps coming to see you, once he asks you about the case, you'll sing like a _canary._ "

This time, Tune couldn't help but to smile.

"that'll make the weight you're carrying light as a _feather_."

Tune gritted their teeth, trying not to let out a single sound. They'd rather not laugh in front of him; it would encourage him to come back.

"see? i'm already this close and you're not acting like a porcupine."

Tune's head snapped up. Sans was way closer to the bed than he had been before. But… they hadn't heard him take any steps. Both of them remained silent for the longest time, just staring at each other. Tune felt trapped, but… they didn't attack. Why weren't they attacking? Why did they feel like that would be the worst thing they could do right now? It didn't even had to do with whether Sans could beat them or not. They just… didn't do it.

"welp." Sans said looking at a non-existant watch on his wrist. "i can't believe you made me stay this long. i have to go. too much time has passed without anyone doing nothing at my house." He winked again, before turning around. "i'll tell papyrus you said hi."

Tune couldn't even think of something to say, because after they blinked, he was gone.

.

.

.

Sans ended going to Toriel's instead. With all the jokes he'd come up with down in that basement, he just needed to tell them to her. The more she laughed, the more he knew Papyrus would groan, or slap his hand against his forehead… or both. That was always funny. And maybe she could give him some ideas if he needed to make another visit down there.

However, when Sans appeared on the doorstep, he was surprised to find the door was already open. Was she having any visits? He knocked twice to announce his arrival.

"hey, tori. you home?" he called. He peeked inside the house. No one in the living room.

"Sans!" came Toriel's voice. "Please, come in! We are in the kitchen."

Sans did. 'We'… Well, the kid was with Undyne, so she did have visits. He made his way to the kitchen in silence. It would take too much energy to yell bad jokes at her from the entrance. Anything similar to a pun left his mind, however, when he reached his destination. Along with Asgore and Toriel, there was a human in the kitchen.

"Good evening!" the stranger greeted, "You must be Mr. Sans. My name is Jacob Sharpe. I've been assigned as the attorney of the monster you now call Tune."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the change in POVs isn't too misplaced.
> 
> Well, let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> If you are you are asking yourself, yes, the monster uses they/them pronouns. The humans are just so used to everything not-human being an "it" that that's what they automatically call them.
> 
> Also I know Frisk didn't get to do much this chapter, but I think it's reasonable since, in the end, a nine year old is not even supposed to go to meetings. They will have a lot more participation from the next chapter onward.
> 
> WOW! This was WAY longer than I intended it to be. I don't know how long the other chapters will be, but I guess they'll be shorter than this one. So, I'll try to update this fic frequently. I'm going to alternate chapters between this and my other current story, also from Undertale, if you wanna check it out. Please leave a comment and tell me how I did. Constructive criticism is always appreciated! I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> is always appreciated! I hope you enjoyed it!


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